Doctor Hooves: An Unusual Filly

by Anime PJ

Chapter 12: The Fall of a King

The four travellers, two princesses and five remaining guards sat in the dark cave they had found just outside the city, they were thinking, planning. Plotting a way to defeat King Sombra and free the ponies of the Crystal Empire but only using the Elements of Harmony as a last resort. Doctor Hooves knew that there was no other way but he wasn't going to argue with a direct order from the princess of the sun herself.

Princess Celestia sighed, it had been a long day and at one moment she thought they were getting close to defeating Discord and they ended up here with another problem to take care of. No one could think of anything that didn't involve the Elements of Harmony in some way and the princesses didn't want it to come to that so they all just sat there, thinking until their brains hurt. In the end Princess Celestia stood up and said "We shall go back into the Crystal Empire tomorrow night and ask the enslaved ponies if they have any idea of how to defeat King Sombra or how he subdued them, maybe we'll get a clue from that."

No pony argued, it was as good a plan as any.
***

Just as planned once night set in they left for the city, the princesses staying behind. They were worried that the powerful magic they held was what alerted King Sombra to their presence before and they were not willing to take the risk of getting their loyal guards or the four time travellers killed. Sugar also stayed behind under her grandfather's orders in order to keep safe. "Here's the plan," Doctor Hooves said as they were about to enter the city "we each take a different street and ask about how Sombra took over and if they know how to get rid of him."

Big Mac came forward "But if these here ponies know how t' get rid of that there Unicorn then why haven't they gone an' done it already?"

Doctor Hooves contemplated this "We'll just have to hope that they know and are just too scared to try." he said.

Big Mac shrugged still better than nothing he thought as they re-entered the city. More and more of them split from the group at every turn off, each going down a different street until it was only Doctor Hooves and Big Mac left, eventually they split from each other down different streets.

Doctor Hooves knocked on his first door. Out came a rather frightened looking young pony who cowered, only showing her face at the door and stuttered "Y - y - yes?"

"Good evening madam, I am Doctor Hooves. I have a few questions if you don't mind." Doctor Hooves said, politely.

The young mare calmed down when listening to his polite demeanour, not completely but she did look a lot less scared now. She nodded as if to say go ahead.

"How did this 'King Sombra' manage all of this?"

She shuddered at the mention of that name but nevertheless answered "He's been practicing magic ever since he was small. Apparently he wasn't very good and he was ridiculed for it, he swore that he would practice every day until he was the most powerful Unicorn in Equestria. Unfortunately he dabbled in dark magic and it made him even more hateful and violent. It also made him powerful enough to enslave the whole Crystal Empire."

Doctor Hooves made a mental note of this, hoping it would come in use later. "Do you know of any possible way of defeating him or at least weakening him?"

The young mare shook her head.

"Very well, good night."

She closed the door. Unfortunately none of the other ponies he visited that night knew a thing about beating Sombra either.
***

"Did any of you find out anything?" Celestia asked, she sounded disappointed but then again. So were they.

"None of us could get a thing out of those ponies except the fact that Sombra has been doing magic for a damn long time." Doctor Hooves said.

Princess Celestia sighed and here I thought this would be simple she thought. She began pacing and muttering to herself, desperately trying to figure out what they were going to do.

"Excuse me," Sugar said softly. Too softly as it appeared Celestia didn't hear her, she spoke louder this time "Excuse me,"

This time the princess turned to her "When I need to figure something out I go to the library, maybe we should try that." Sugar suggested.

Celestia's eyes widened as she wondered why only the little girl had thought of that. "Doctor Hooves," she said. Doctor Hooves turned his head towards her "you take Miss Cheerilee and your granddaughter to that library, you'll be able to get the information faster than any of the guards."

"Yes, your majesty." Doctor Hooves replied. He looked out of the cave, it was still night, by his gathering they should still have another few hours of night ahead of them. "We shall leave at once, Sugar. Cheerilee. Come on."

Sugar jumped onto her grandfathers back and off they set on the short journey back to the Crystal Empire.
***

They had just arrived at the entrance to the library when Doctor Hooves ordered them to stop rather abruptly. "Cheerilee, I must ask you not to turn any books that may lead to weakening Sombra's powers into the princesses. I know that may not sound like a good idea but you must believe me, anything short of using the Elements of Harmony may prevent one of Equestria's defenders from learning a lesson that eventually led to the first Alicorn transformation in over two thousand years."

Cheerilee just nodded, she didn't really know what he'd just said. It didn't matter, he assumed that there wouldn't be any books in there that did that anyway because otherwise Twilight Sparkle and her friends would have surely found them during their visit to the Crystal Empire around a thousand years later. He pushed open the large door and stepped inside.

There was no one there, of course why would there be? It was the middle of the night and everyone was getting rest after Sombra had made them work all day and possibly for a long time before that. "Just look through the books and see if you can find anything that might help us." Doctor Hooves ordered "Better yet find the book that details the Crystal Heart on the back page."

Looking at all of the books that were there made them think that it would take an incredibly long time to find any book with helpful information, let alone a specific book. As it turned out it didn't take that long at all as Cheerilee flipped through her fifth book and saw the details about and artefact called the 'Crystal Heart' right at the back.

She showed Doctor Hooves "Perfect." he said. He then proceeded to tear the back page from the book and put it in the pocket he had on his black jacket. "Sugar, come over here. We are leaving." Sugar obeyed and they left the library to walk back to the cave where the princesses were anxiously awaiting them.
***

It was only after receiving the information on the paper and asking around the empire one more time that the princesses came to a conclusion. They must use the Elements of Harmony. They had heard from the 'Crystal Ponies' that the Crystal Heart had been taken by Sombra and hidden away in his palace, since the only way to get to the heart was through Sombra they only saw one alternative which they were not thrilled about but it had to be done.

It was because of these events that the group were now walking towards the Crystal Palace where King Sombra would no doubt be at this time in the day. They had stopped to get rest after asking around about the Crystal Heart and learning nothing, they were all determined that despite this setback they would defeat King Sombra and free the Crystal Empire from his tyranny. They marched towards that palace with a purpose, a purpose that would be fulfilled by the days end.

They got there and the guards forced the gates of the palace open, stepping inside they saw King Sombra in the centre of the room. He looked bored, bored of waiting for them maybe but still as dangerous as they had always suspected.

Upon their entering he appeared to smile, the sun reflecting off of his red eyes and his horn beginning to glow. "Welcome," he snarled at them "I suppose you're the ones I sensed arriving yesterday. The ones in charge of the pathetic waste that I vaporised." His smile grew as he saw the intent in their eyes "You're here to kill me aren't you? Good luck with that."

His horn, which had been glowing increasingly brighter during the conversation and it erupted with light aimed directly at the two Alicorns at the head of the group. He saw them as his biggest threat. Celestia and Luna sent beams of their magic right back, the three beams of magic collided in the middle of the room and a brighter light was created where they met and Sombra's magic began to overpower that of the Alicorn's and worked its way towards them.

"See you in the afterlife." Sombra goaded, his grin growing ever wider.

"Now." Celestia ordered. Her crown and her and Luna's necklaces began to glow, very brightly. Their magic now pushed back Sombra's and that cocky look in his eye was now replaced with alarm, he didn't know how this was happening but he knew this couldn't be natural and so he tried to fight it. These attempts proved futile.

The magic created by the Alicorns reached Sombra and he was thrown backwards, he saw that there was no way he was going to win this now so all he could do was give them one final misery. His horn glowed again, this time faintly as he aimed it at Luna "On the day of battle all filled with woe, your sister you shall overthrow." A beam of magic so faint hit Luna that even she didn't notice it at the time and Sombra began to speak again "If I should lose, for a thousand years this city shall disappear."

Celestia was confused by these phrases so she ignored him "In light of your deeds you evil creature, you shall be turned to shadow and banished to the icy planes of the arctic." Both her and Luna's horns glowed again as they hit Sombra with harmony induced magic and he vanished.

To their shock though, when he vanished so did the city. They found themselves standing in the centre of a field and none of them but Doctor Hooves knew what had happened. The future had been set into play.

Comments

[Anime PJ]

>>Kris Overstreet Looking through it, I think you're right. I'm just glad the first piece of criticism I've had is constructive and not trolls.

[Boss_Hoss1]

As it turned out it didn't take that long at all as Cheerilee flipped through her fifth book and saw the details about and artefact called the 'Crystal Heart' right at the back.
She showed Doctor Hooves "Perfect." he said. He then proceeded to tear the back page from the book and put it in the pocket he had on his black jacket.
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/348/331/8b0.jpg
I see what you did there...